A.Word.A.Day

AWADmail Issue 669

A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Tidbits about Words and Language

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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: The belief in the possibility of a short decisive
war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human
illusions. -Robert Lynd, writer (20 Apr 1879-1949)

Short wars: I’m listening to Mike Duncan’s great “Revolutions” podcast,
currently about the French Revolution. When the Austrians went to war
with France in April 1792, their command decided not to buy new horses,
as the expected war would be so brief that they would not be needed. The
war, he points out, lasted a generation.

Jeffrey W Percival, Wisconsin

Email of the Week (Brought to you by ONEUPMANSHIP -- All of life’s lessons in a big, black box.)

Ascotic: Wearing one’s scarf really tight
Copascetic: Avoiding the Copacobana
Bascetic hound: A dog that doesn’t eat all his food at once
Cascettic: Refusing to upgrade to a CD player
Videocascettic: Refusing to upgrade to a DVD player
Amasscetic: Avoiding any contact with Donald Trump

In German musical notations (which are different from English, French, or
Italian) dur or hard is the equivalent of the major scales and intervals,
moll or soft of the minor ones. See also the English words endure (to
last, as against hardship) and mollify (to soften). The former scale
is generally associated with cerebration, while the latter is considered
applicable to the realm of emotions. Like all generalizations, this too
is fairly wide of the mark.

For instance, Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony #41 is in the key of C major,
the preceding #40 is in G minor. They were composed in almost the same
time period, in July and August 1788.

The quantities mentioned in your first usage example for “lissom” today
will confound many Americans. As a lifelong numerophile, I am delighted
to clarify.

Sutcliffe says that Adam drinks “28 litres of fizzy drinks a week”. That
works out to 7.4 gallons per week or 1.06 gallons per day, which is almost
17 cans.

I do not know why the British measure human weight in stone (always
singular), which is 14 pounds. Therefore, Sutcliffe is being ironic when
he calls Jorjie “comparatively lissom” at 13 stone, because that is 182
pounds. At 19 stone, Adam is a substantial 266 pounds.

I like the way you have included a second word of the week in the example
sentence for each day’s word. It helps to reinforce the word when you read
it twice in one week. If you’ve done this before, I have not paid attention.
Anyway, keep up the good work. Your daily email is the ONLY daily email I
have continued for more than a few months, and I feel like I’ve been getting
it for well over ten years now -- I am not sure, as I can’t remember when I
didn’t get it. Thanks for enriching my vocabulary every day!

Charlie Rettiger, Madison, Georgia

Thanks for your note. You have been with us for 14 years.
-Anu Garg

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Language is the armoury of the human mind; and at once contains the trophies
of its past, and the weapons of its future conquests. -Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, poet, critic, and philosopher (1772-1834)